Adam Silver says next WNBA commissioner should help ‘unify’ the league

NEW YORK — The search for the WNBA’s next commissioner is unofficially underway.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver and his colleagues haven’t begun interviewing candidates, but calls about the job opening are flooding in since Cathy Engelbert announced her retirement earlier this month.

“I can tell by the calls I’m getting how much more attractive this job is and will be in 2027 than it was in 2019,” Silver told The Athletic on Tuesday.

The hiring process will begin in earnest after the league names a search firm — which it’s currently working to select. Because the NBA has a controlling ownership stake in the WNBA, Silver will make the hire with the WNBA Board of Governors. He said identifying a person who can lead the WNBA through a new era is important.

“We’re at the stage of this league where understandably there was going to be some tension around collective bargaining,” he said. “Now that we have a long-term agreement in place, we need somebody who is going to help unify the players with the players and the players with ownership. I see that opportunity.”

Silver selected Engelbert, the former CEO of Deloitte, as the WNBA’s first commissioner — all of her predecessors served in the role of president — in 2019. Her contract expires at the end of the calendar year, and she will not stay on into 2027 to help with a transition of power, according to a source with knowledge of her contract who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Engelbert’s seven-year tenure has been marked by exponential growth and financial success. She helped usher in an era of expansion, as the WNBA is set to grow to 18 teams by 2030, and she oversaw two transformational collective bargaining agreements. But Engelbert also dealt with intense scrutiny, mainly due to what many players, owners and team executives have described as poor relationship-building skills.

Off-court issues have taken center stage this season, ranging from online harassment of players to discourse around the hypothetical inclusion of transgender athletes in the WNBA. The league’s largely reactive approach to issues has been another point of concern from Engelbert’s critics.

Silver said he saw Engelbert’s role as “more than symbolism,” but WNBA insiders expressed skepticism about how much power she independently wielded.

Under Engelbert, staff solely dedicated to the WNBA grew from roughly 12 employees in 2019 to nearly 100, according to a league source familiar with the growth who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Still, Silver indicated that the next commissioner, like Engelbert, will not have full autonomy in the role.

“Having been involved in the WNBA for 30 years, I think there are enormous benefits to running integrated operations,” Silver said. “There are also aspects of the league which I think are best run independently.”

Silver said issues around the game itself, such as overseeing CBA discussions, potential rule changes and player concerns, should be under “direct control of the WNBA commissioner.” However, he said, “I oversee the greater organization.”

Silver said it’s possible the WNBA could operate more independently from the NBA in the future. Ultimately, he said, it benefits the WNBA for the leagues to work in tandem.

“I maybe say this a bit defensively; I don’t think it’s hampered the operation of the WNBA at all,” he said of the integrated operations.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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